Our problem in this country is hysterical blindness. Selective amnesia. The profound inability to see self and absolve deeply our pathetic situation. We see other people’s joy as our joy. Rather than ask: how about our joy? Who did we offend to find ourselves in the rot we are.
We are celebrating Qatar. We are marvelling at a country that seems to emerge from nowhere to grab the attention of the world. A cynosure of the football world. The crazy thing here is, that it is not even a football loving country. It is actually Hell; with a weather that has killed many. Yet, Qatar spent at least $220 billion on the World Cup, making it by far the most expensive World Cup ever.
From Congo to Nigeria
African Games from Guniea Bisau
From Ghana to Lagos…
That was the song for the Second All African Games. Many here were not born then. Or too young to remember. But I did. I was there. My father was part of the construction team that worked on the National Stadium construction. Expensive equipment was left overnight. After the success of the first African Games, the organising body awarded the second games to Bamako, Mali to be held in 1969. A military coup disrupted the plans and the organisers moved the games to Lagos, Nigeria to be held in 1971. The games were postponed once again and finally opened in January 1973.
A torch was lit in Brazzaville a week before the games and transported to Lagos as a symbol of the continuity of the games. Nobody looted or mismanaged the funds for the project. Sports heroes from around the world, including Abebe Bikila, Pelé, Muhammad Ali, and Jesse Owens were invited to attend the opening ceremonies.
…Welcome welcome ladies and gentlemen
You are welcome to Nigeria
Where the Festac is taking place
Here in Nigeria
In Africa
That was King Sunny Ade welcoming the entire Black world to what was then the greatest Black nation in the world: Nigeria. If you doubt FESTAC (World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture), go to FESTAC town. That was built just for that event. Ask your parents about the buses that were used to convey participants to and from the town to the venue of the event.
The National Theatre was built for the purpose of hosting the world. Nigeria did not do a good job as host. It did a splendid job. Artists who performed at the festival included Stevie Wonder from the United States, Gilberto Gil from Brazil, Bembeya Jazz National from Guinea, Mighty Sparrow from Trinidad and Tobago, Les Ballets Africains, South African Miriam Makeba, and Franco Luambo Makiadi. At the time it was held, it was the largest pan-African gathering to ever take place.
The official emblem of the festival was a replica crafted by Erhabor Emokpae of the royal ivory mask of Benin. The hosting of the festival led to the establishment of the Nigerian National Council of Arts and Culture, FESTAC Village and the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos. Most of the events were held in four main venues: the National Theatre; National Stadium, Surulere; Lagos City Hall; and Tafawa Balewa Square.
The reason for us to pause and think is that we went from Paradise to Hell. Qatar had oil money just like God gave us too. They turned their Hell into Paradise.
